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Single Idea 6648

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 1. Thought ]

Full Idea

Some behaviourists have held the view that thinking just is, in effect, suppressed speech.

Gist of Idea

Some behaviourists believe thought is just suppressed speech

Source

E.J. Lowe (Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind [2000], Ch. 7)

Book Ref

Lowe,E.J.: 'Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind' [CUP 2000], p.176

A Reaction

He cites J.B.Watson. This would imply that infants and animals can't think. Introspecting my own case, I don't believe it. When I am navigating through a town, for example, I directly relate to my mental map; I see little sign of anything verbal.

The 34 ideas with the same theme [intentional activity of the mind]:

1524 For Empedocles thinking is almost identical to perception [Empedocles, by Theophrastus]
1733 Thinking is not perceiving, but takes the form of imagination and speculation [Aristotle]
4405 The attainment of truth is the task of the intellectual part of the soul [Aristotle]
23652 We must first conceive things before we can consider them [Reid]
5556 A pure concept of the understanding can never become an image [Kant]
8103 A thought is as real as a cannon ball [Joubert]
15608 The act of thinking is the bringing forth of universals [Hegel]
24102 Thoughts are signs (just as words are) [Nietzsche]
24078 Thoughts cannot be fully reproduced in words [Nietzsche]
4419 People who think in words are orators rather than thinkers, and think about facts instead of thinking facts [Nietzsche]
8620 Thought is the same everywhere, and the laws of thought do not vary [Frege]
9581 Many people have the same thought, which is the component, not the private presentation [Frege]
8162 Thoughts have their own realm of reality - 'sense' (as opposed to the realm of 'reference') [Frege, by Dummett]
9818 A thought is distinguished from other things by a capacity to be true or false [Frege, by Dummett]
19469 We grasp thoughts (thinking), decide they are true (judgement), and manifest the judgement (assertion) [Frege]
18717 Thought is an activity which we perform by the expression of it [Wittgenstein]
23756 The mind is imprisoned and limited by language, restricting our awareness of wider thoughts [Weil]
9033 Recognition must precede the acquisition of basic concepts, so it is the fundamental intellectual process [Price,HH]
8174 The theories of meaning and understanding are the only routes to an account of thought [Dummett]
8175 A theory of thought will include propositional attitudes as well as propositions [Dummett]
21880 'Tacit theory' controls our thinking (which is why Freud is important) [Derrida]
6392 Thought depends on speech [Davidson]
2476 The goal of thought is to understand the world, not instantly sort it into conceptual categories [Fodor]
12640 Associative thinking avoids syntax, but can't preserve sense, reference or truth [Fodor]
12641 Connectionism gives no account of how constituents make complex concepts [Fodor]
2992 We may be able to explain rationality mechanically [Fodor]
7850 Thinking about a thing doesn't require activating it [Papineau]
7851 Consciousness affects bodily movement, so thoughts must be material states [Papineau]
4625 Is mental imagery pictorial, or is it propositional? [Heil]
18503 You can think of tomatoes without grasping what they are [Heil]
6648 Some behaviourists believe thought is just suppressed speech [Lowe]
11082 Should we take the 'depictivist' or the 'descriptivist/propositionalist' view of mental imagery? [Hanna]
10663 A thought can refer to many things, but only predicate a universal and affirm a state of affairs [Hossack]
18561 We can identify a set of cognitive capacities which are 'higher order' [Machery]